* Died 27 Octob… Read Full Bio ↴* Born 20 September 1911, Moundsville, West Virginia
* Died 27 October 1999, Lafayette, California
After years of seeing "Music by DeVol" flash by on the opening credits of countless TV shows and movies, I had come to assume that "DeVol" was some faceless business, the musical equivalent of "Color by Deluxe." To the contrary, Frank DeVol was a real person who proved more than willing on occasion to put his face in front of the camera--and did so, in fact, playing the bandleader Happy Kyne on Martin Mull's talk-show parody sitcom, "Fernwood 2 Nite" (later "America 2 Nite"). Unlike his character, who was often the brunt of host Barth Gimble's sarcasm, DeVol was a shrewd and able professional, a mainstay of the studio system.
DeVol was raised in Canton, Ohio, where his father was bandleader for the local vaudeville theater. DeVol joined his father's band when he was 14, and was a full-time professional musician before he was twenty. After a variety of gigs, he was hired by Horace Heidt to play and arrange, but when guitarist Alvino Rey left that band, DeVol went with him. By the early 1940s, DeVol was leading his own band on Mutural Network station KHJ in Los Angeles. He soon became musical director for the network, working with Rudi Vallee, Dinah Shore, Jack Carson, and others, and was appearing himself in some of the on-air skits.
DeVol worked in radio until the early 1950s, when director Robert Aldrich hired him to score a low-budget movie, "World for Ransom." Other studio jobs followed, and by the early 1960s, most of his time was spent writing and conducting music for series such as "My Three Sons" and "The Brady Bunch" and movies like "Pillow Talk," "Good Neighbor Sam," "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner," and "Krakatoa: East of Java." He won five Oscar nominations for his scores and five Emmys for his television themes and scores. He was in steady demand as an arranger for vocalists such as Tony Bennett, Doris Day, Vic Damone, June Christy, and Peggy Lee. And in his spare moments, he did occasional acting bits, appearing in movies such as "The Parent Trap" before his "Fernwood/America 2 Nite" stint.
But DeVol was also a recording artist with Capitol, Columbia, and finally, ABC, and released over a dozen albums of fairly standard--although not so hackneyed as Mantovani's--string-laden easy listening music. The most noteworthy of these for space age pop fans is Bacchanale, a suite of compositions by Albert Harris centered on the theme of the gods of Greek mythology.
In the mid-1980s, after the death of his first wife, DeVol married the big band-era singer Helen O'Connell, and together the couple performed on cruise ships for several years until O'Connell's death in 1997.
Stranger In Paradise
Frank DeVol Lyrics
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I'm a stranger in Paradise
All lost in a wonderland
A stranger in paradise
If I stand starry eyed,
That's a danger in Paradise
For mortals who stand beside
An angel like you
And I ascended
Out of the common place
Into the rarest somewhere in space
I hang suspended
Until I know
There's a chance that you care
Won't you answer this fervent prayer?
Of a stranger in paradise
Don't send me in dark despair
From all that I hunger for
But open your angel's arms
To this stranger in paradise
And tell him that he need be
A stranger no more
Frank DeVol's song "Stranger In Paradise" is a romantic ballad that tells the story of a man who has fallen in love with an angel. He describes himself as a stranger in paradise, lost in a wonderland, and starry-eyed when standing beside her. He has ascended out of the common place and hangs suspended, waiting for a chance that she cares. The man pleads for her to open her angel's arms to him, so he is no longer a stranger in paradise.
The lyrics of the song convey a sense of longing, wonder, and hope. The man is infatuated with his love interest, and he is entranced by her beauty and otherworldly nature. He sees her as an angel and himself as a mere mortal. The song suggests that despite the differences between them, the man is willing to do whatever it takes to be with her. He begs her to open her arms to him, so he can be free from being a stranger in paradise and be with the one he loves.
Line by Line Meaning
Take my hand,
Please offer your hand to me
I'm a stranger in Paradise
I feel like an outsider in this perfect place
All lost in a wonderland
I am completely taken aback by the beauty around me
A stranger in paradise
Once again, I emphasize that I am not from here
If I stand starry eyed,
If I stare at everything with complete awe
That's a danger in Paradise
I might lose my sense of reality and become completely mesmerized
For mortals who stand beside
For those who are human just like me
An angel like you
And yet here you are, looking like an angel
I saw your face,
When I looked upon your face
And I ascended
I felt like I was lifted up
Out of the common place
I was taken away from the ordinary
Into the rarest somewhere in space
And transported to the most unique, magical place in the universe
I hang suspended
I am floating, feeling weightless
Until I know
But my mind won't stop thinking
There's a chance that you care
If there is even a remote possibility that you have feelings for me
Won't you answer this fervent prayer?
Please respond to my soul-deep request
Don't send me in dark despair
Do not leave me in a state of emotional agony
From all that I hunger for
From everything that I desire with all my being
But open your angel's arms
Instead, embrace me with your heavenly arms
To this stranger in paradise
To me, who feels so out of place but so in love with you
And tell him that he need be
And reassure me that I do not have to be
A stranger no more
An outsider here in paradise any longer
Contributed by Noah A. Suggest a correction in the comments below.